We finished up the first big project of this year. Which gives me time to catch up on some reading and watching. Together with some recovery days (= no cycling) over the last weekend, I had enough time to now be ready to provide you with recommendations for the upcoming Easter weekend.

First up, Comics

James Bond, VARGR #2

So much good stuff out there. First, I can always recommend reading up on Warrens current series Injection and Trees. Both great stories and beautiful artworks. Also enjoyed his take on James Bond, but mostly for the insight jokes about Berlin (see above from #2). Bond is just not my type of story.

So in case you decide to head over to your local comic book store to pick up just one book to indulge in over the Easter break, I’d have to recommend Ms. Marvel. I just love everything about it. It’s the story of a teenage girl from a Muslim family that lives in New Jersey and gets superpowers. For me, this series is everything that I love about good comics these days. It’s quirky, it’s big-hearted, it’s everything a superhero comic should be in 2016. And it comes with stunning artwork.

Tokyo Ghost Vol. 1

Tokyo Ghost is an entirely different thing. It’s a science fiction story about a future in which society is controlled via addiction to entertainment and drugs. This comic packs fast-paced action sequences and detailed world-building. My only problem with it is the strong dualism (offline = good, online = bad) in the storytelling. I can accept it as a premise to create an extreme scenario. But the writing gets annoyingly preachy about it at times. Nevertheless, would be surprised if this one won’t be turned into a movie.

Brevet Documentary

Long distance bicycle tours are called Brevet (French for “test”). The most famous Brevet is Paris-Brest-Paris. Every four years, 6000 cyclists try to ride the 1230 kilometers within 90 hours. Brevet is also the name of a documentary about that tour, which I watched last weekend. It follows three cyclists throughout the tour, one of which is a 72-year-old who is riding this tour for the seventh time.

If you’re even remotely interested in cycling, I can highly recommend this movie. Stunning landscapes in France, lovely people on bikes and at the roadsides, and lots of little stories of cyclists trying to find out what they’re capable of. I had a smile on my face for the whole thing.

Not so with The Big Short, which I also watched last weekend. Although not a documentary, it felt very much like one documenting brazenness of the financial industry leading to the meltdown in 2008. With this one, it’s more of a constant mumbling of “what the fuck?”

One of you, dear readers (hi, Doug), mentioned that Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Talents echoes Transmet by including a zealot winning the presidency by denigrating foreigners and poor people and using the slogan “Make America Great Again.” Then Alexis Madrigal, I think, linked to this LARB article about Butlers Parable books. I took it as a sign and finally picked up my first novel from Butler and started reading Parable of the Sower.

Ok, this one was a bit strange to read. Kyle Chayka describes the rise of Kinfolk magazines and its amazing influence on aesthetics. What made it a bit ambivalent was how close my own aesthetics and those of my surroundings are to those that are described here. Without the Kinfolk aesthetic, my everyday life would look rather different. So this article is also a welcomed mirror to be more aware of my own influences and aesthetic choices.